Ruminations and Fulminations

Things We Find Interesting

Today marks the beginning of a new feature for the SRC family, a compilation of things we find interesting. Being literal more than literate, we’ve name our new feature “Things We Find Interesting” and they are little bits of commentary with links to articles, sites and content that didn’t – for whatever reason – get a full post treatment but are nonetheless…well, interesting.

TWFI also marks the first appearance at the front of the house of our editorial assistant, Michael Tankenoff. Michael, who also moonlights as an intern for me, has been making the site better for the last month or so and will be the primary author of these frequent-but-not-quite-regular postings.

Enjoy the first one.

– Austin

– Many dedicated TV watchers sooner or later find themselves wanting to TiVo three items at once. Because that doesn’t work and because you haven’t used that VCR since the days when “professional baseball” wasn’t always mentioned in the same sentence with “needles” and “Congressional hearings,” this means you are probably going to have to accept the necessity of purchasing one of your shows for $1.99 on iTunes or getting it from one of the other sites rushing into this market.

Thankfully, many large television networks are simplifying this process and making things easier for us. We are continuing to see the fusing of the online entertainment content with the broadcasted television versions. In fact, many networks are starting to develop programming specifically for the online market as they are finding that many viewers are already waiting patiently on their websites to watch their prime time shows (raising the question of whether there even is “prime time” any more).

– Were you thinking that it was a lucky coincidence that the very object of your desire just happened to pop up in an ad or two as you were aimlessly searching the Internet this weekend? Think again. Chances are that you’re actually experiencing the increasingly accurate – and potentially worrisome –targeting that many companies are using to sift through the data created by your passage through the Internet to anticipate your next move. For a detailed look at this, including its impact on more traditional advertising, check out this NY times article.

– This past Sunday, while everyone spent an hour in front of their ovens trying to adjust the clock, we celebrated one of our favorite underrated holidays right behind Flag Day and that would be Daylight Saving (no “s” at the end necessary) Day. For all who would like to know why the hell we still do this, especially this early, Ron Way has thoroughly provided the answers with his Minnpost addition entitled “The energy behind daylight saving time.”

– In what may be the funniest commercial I have ever seen, watch this ad from Germany and try to guess what it is promoting. This one is definitely worth a second, third or ninth viewing…

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One thought on “Things We Find Interesting”

Dennis Langsays:

Michael–Looks like an entertaining and informative new segment! That NY Times article is particularly unsettling. With all the billions of dollars at stake in internet advertising what are the chances for truly inhibiting the consumer-profiling that seems to be gaining in sophistication by the moment? This seems to be one of the web’s most frightening aspects, or is it simply the price to be paid for free information?